The 19th FE-FC Holden Nationals will be held in Broken Hill next weekend, with enthusiasts of what some claim to be Australia’s favourite car – sorry Ford owners – from all over the country visiting the Silver City for a two-day event expected to showcase around 80 Holden cars.
The biennial event has been running since 1988, with different FE-FC Holden Car Clubs hosting across all corners of the country – though this’ll be first time it’s held in what is a genuine outback location.
“We’ve had a number of events in capital cities, obviously in major river towns, a few inland cities like Toowoomba and Mount Gambier. But this is the first time it’s really been a bush Nationals,” Director of the 19th FE-FC Holden Nationals, Richard Thomas, told us.
Mr Thomas, who is also the Secretary of the FE-FC Holden Car Club of NSW, said a decision to hold the FE-FC Holden Nationals in Broken Hill was made in 2019, with members putting forward a compelling pitch. Originally meant to be held in 2022, it was pushed back to 2023 as a result of Covid, but also in part due to the filming of Mad Max: Furiosa.
“Around 2019, pre-Covid, we asked around our members of the FE-FC Holden Car Club of NSW to put forward some proposals for where we might hold the event and two of the members put forward a pretty compelling proposal on Broken Hill that we decided was the pick of the bunch,” he said.
“Three of us made a visit up to Broken Hill in September 2019, and funny story, we did not know the weekend we were coming was Broken Heel so the town was frocked up and it was fantastic. We got a good opportunity there to meet people from Broken Hill Council who came to meet us to talk through what we wanted to do and provide their input.
“We’ve got a member who lives locally there who drove us around to show us a few venues and places where the event could hold parts of its shows and displays. And so, we came away from that pretty convinced that, yes, Broken Hill was the choice.”
Several public vehicle displays will be accessible for the public to look at the cars, talk to owners, and ask questions over the Easter weekend. Sturt Park will host the main show-and-shine on Saturday, April 8 between 9am and 3pm before the cars line Patton Street on Sunday, April 9 from around 8:30am to 10:30am. In the afternoon, a convoy of cars will be touring around town, including heading to the Living Desert and Sculptures, the Royal Flying Doctor Service, and finishing up at Zinc Lakes.
